Cohda Design was established in 2007 and is the brainchild of designer Richard Liddle. It is a cutting edge design studio that produces breath talking contemporary furniture whilst primarily focusing on sustainability and the environment. The New York Press simply call them a “Punk Rock Design Company!" When you see his work it becomes evident why they bestowed such a label upon the studio. Richard is clear in his mind that he does not want “to repeat the history of design but instead add to it.” As a result he designs pieces that have never been seen and then patents them, meaning you will not see copied versions of his work. Richard is a very intelligent man; he has a BA Hons at Leeds University, a MA at Northumbria, and an MPhil at the Royal College of Art, he also studied a Business Course at Durham University.

One of his great inventions is his RD (Roughly Drawn) Legs Chair. The chair is 100% made from hard to recycle plastic, which would prove to be a difficult challenge for most designers. In order to create RD Legs he edits and re-engineers an industrial machine that re-heats waste plastic and re-forms this into a continual  spaghetti-like strand. When the spaghetti strand is set and cooled it then turns rock hard. He also uses his machine to create tables and whatever else his imagination can dream up. Richard feels at home in creating designs that are pioneering and innovative. He likes to rise up to a challenge and is never put off by how difficult a project may be. Cohda’s philosophy is to “view waste packaging as a valuable resource as opposed to an ecological difficulty. It is estimated that producing one RD Leg using his process rather than virgin plastic saves enough energy to run a 60-watt light bulb for more than 1,400 hours. RD Legs are one of the most ecological products on the market. Not only does he find a use for waste plastic that is hard to recycle but he also creates a new products from the waste without the need for any glue or any binding agents. As a result it can be easily recycled again without any trouble.

Another of his products which demonstrates his relentless focus for simplicity and eco design is his Revive table-legs range. Just like RD Legs he was trying to solve another ecological problem; the problem of shipping heavy furniture around the world. Even if the item was totally made from recycled material the environmental advantage could possibly be negated by a high carbon foot print cost in shipping. When he was asked to produce a new table design he was not satisfied with the choice of recycled materials available to him which allowed him to use as little energy as possible. As a result he invented his own solution to the problem and once again patented it. The Revive range are essentially leg clamps which are manufactured in the UK from thrown away production equipment. They allow anyone to create their own table with just about any solid flat surface they can find. One could use items such as an old door, window frame or cabinet doors. The best thing about this product is that it does not add to the environmental problems which come from producing new manufactured products.

Probably the most exciting of Richard’s future projects is to do with rapid-prototyping technologies (aka 3D printers). Rapid Prototyping Machines produce physical objects based on digital designs. Currently, such machines cost in excess of £10,000 and are used by companies to produce design models and sometimes actual products. The costs of these machines are going down and Richard already sees the potential for home-based fabrication. "A home contains a certain percentage of plastic goods," he says. "Imagine if you could just use that plastic to create new goods. When you need a new product, you might actually just buy the designs CAD file, download this into your printer and reform the waste plastics you already have in the home into the new product."

Currently no products available for sale